MANHATTAN — Crumbs Bake Shop shut down all of its cupcake stores across the country on Monday, including 16 in New York City, as the financially struggling company could no longer afford to keep its doors open, according to reports.
The bakery — known for its decadent, oversized treats in flavors including Caramel Macchiato and Girl Scout Thin Mints — closed its locations without warning to customers or staff, just days after the Nasdaq Stock Market suspended trading of the company's shares on July 1, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"Regrettably Crumbs has been forced to cease operations and is immediately attending to the dislocation of its devoted employees while it evaluates its limited remaining options," Crumbs said in a statement to the Journal.
Crumbs opened its first store on the Upper West Side in 2003 and rode the country's cupcake craze to add several dozen more locations in 11 states and Washington, DC, including new spots in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, according to Crumbs' website.
But the company was losing millions of dollars per year by 2012 and was already in the midst of closing some of its stores when news of Monday's shutdown broke, the Journal reported.
Crumbs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
